Greetings, readers! Yes, both of you.

I’m writing to you today from my new office space, by which I mean cubicle. I took a position with a different department, in a different building up the street, and started last week.

Please note: Before any of you make obscure references to the movie “Office Space”, I won’t get them. I saw the movie once, and years ago, and don’t remember much of it, so I’ll spare you the disappointment of sending me a quote and having me stare blankly at the screen, not responding. Now give back my red stapler.

It’s a bittersweet change, as I left a wonderful group of people at my old office, but have gained a smaller but equally wonderful bunch of new co-workers. I’ve also gained something that makes up for the, ahem, complete LACK of monetary increase that came with the shift: privacy.

I started to think about all the…er, issues surrounding my productivity at my former location (and no, blogging wasn’t one of them, thank you very much…), and it was starting to become a rant. Since I do that often enough, I’d like to shake things up a little by providing a simple flow-chart of a few issues around the office, and the method for addressing them, which I’ll call “Not In My Job Description!”


While you may not be able to read the issues themselves, the method of address should be pretty clear. Almost any problem could easily be addressed by simply stopping whatever I was actually being paid to do.

My new space is fantastic! My position was just created, and so all of my equipment is brand-new. My cubicle is much larger, and lacks both the massive support post behind my chair and additional computer that sat next to me at my old space (the latter at which worked an intern for my first three months). The new space lacks the prospect of a view of Mt. Washington on a clear day, as there was if I walked into the adjacent conference room, but there is natural and indirect light in a high overhead space.

The first week and a half have been slow, but my lovely co-worker, Tara, (HEY!) who generously recommended me for the job, will be out on maternity leave any minute now, and I’ll be on my own until April or so. She assures me that I’m prepared, but then she’s a really nice person who says all sorts of nice things which aren’t necessarily true. Let’s just call her an “idealist” in this case.

Naw, I kid. I’m sure everything will be fine…. gulp.